10 Ways to Help a Musically-Challenged, Older Believer Worship through Song

I’m that person. I love to sing God’s praises, but I know nothing about music. I’m also old enough that I’m offered the senior discount at restaurants. Here’s how you might help people like me worship better:

1. At least when you first introduce a song, sing it through a few times. With hymnals long laid aside, I often don’t know the melody of a song. By time I catch it, I’ll have lost an opportunity to worship. Let me hear the song a couple of times first, though, and I’ll soon be ready to sing.  
2. Don’t assume I know the lyrics. The fact that it’s a song you and all your friends know well doesn’t mean the rest of us know it. Somehow – on the screen, in the bulletin, via a hymnal, etc. – make sure I have the words.  
3. Help me hear the words over the music. I openly admit my age here, but I really don’t think my age is the issue. If the music is so loud that I can’t hear the leader, the worship team, or myself sing, what’s the point of the words?
4. Sing a hymn once in a while. I don’t want to sing hymns all the time, and I never want to sing hymns poorly. Occasionally, though, a well-done hymn takes me back to the early days of my faith walk – and helps me renew my commitment to God.
5. Tell me when songs come directly from the Bible. I hope I recognize when that’s the case, but maybe not always. Here’s the point: when you show me that I’m actually singing the words of the Bible, I listen and sing better. 
6. Choose songs that are “singable.” Sometimes it feels like the song choice is more a matter of the leader’s desire to show his own ability than it is a desire to lead others to worship God corporately. At least for me, it’s tough to worship when I can’t easily sing the song. 
7. Help me to see the lyrics, including for individual and choir specials. Any song is a message, and I will hear the message better if I can see the words others are singing. Plus, seeing the words will help me hear them when a choir’s enunciation is not as clear as it should be. I miss the message if I don’t understand the words.
8. Don’t talk so much between songs that the “sermonizing” becomes distracting. Appropriately placed words can facilitate worship, but excessive words get in the way of worship. Keep directing me back to God, but do it through song.
9. Don’t assume I’m not worshiping if it seems I’m not “into it.” It might be that I don’t know the song, and I’m just now learning and considering the words. I’m giving it my best—and I’m supportive of you—even if it seems like I’m less engaged. 
10. Smile, and genuinely worship as you lead us. I don’t want you to be a show, but nor am I inclined to follow you if you seem to be the lead corpse among the dead. I want to worship God, so let me see your joy in Him.   

What would you add to this list?